“Today, Vice President Harris tested positive for Covid-19 in rapid and PCR tests. She has shown no symptoms, will be isolated and will continue to work from the vice president’s residence, “Kirsten Allen, the vice president’s spokeswoman, said in a statement.
Alan added: “She has not been in close contact with the president or the first lady due to their recent travel schedules. She will follow the instructions of the CDC and the advice of her doctors. The vice president will return to the White House when her test is negative. “
Harris was due to receive a briefing on his intelligence at 10:15 a.m. ET at the White House on Tuesday with President Joe Biden, according to daily guidelines sent to reporters Monday night. She did not attend any events or meetings at the White House on Tuesday, according to a White House official.
Harris’s isolation will have an immediate impact on Senate Democrats. Democratic sensors Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Ron Wyden of Oregon also said they also tested positive on Tuesday, meaning their absence – along with Harris ‘- would delay Democrats’ plans to confirm two high-ranking nominations for the week. Democrat contributor to CNN.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hoped to confirm Lisa Cook as a member of the Federal Reserve Board and Alvaro Bedoya as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. But as there is widespread Republican opposition to them, the vote to process these nominations will be postponed until Democrats, who closely control the 50-50 House, return to full force.
As part of the guerrilla warfare so prevalent in the Senate, Republicans will still force a procedural roll-call vote for Cook’s nomination – which will fail – later Tuesday and force Democrats to go through the process of smashing a filibuster against her. again. GOP senators could have agreed to abstain from the actual vote, but they did not. Republicans have not yet said whether they would do the same with Bedoya’s nomination.
The Senate is due to confirm Lael Brainard as Fed vice president on Tuesday afternoon. Her nomination is not affected by the absences, as she has bipartisan support.
Harris is not in close contact with Biden
Harris arrived at the White House on Tuesday morning, a White House official told CNN, and went straight to take the test. After testing positive for both PCR and rapid tests, she returned home to her residence at the Naval Observatory, where she will be isolated.
Separately, a spokesman said Harris last saw Biden rolling Easter eggs on April 18. She left Washington for California that afternoon and did not return until Monday night.
While in California last week, she held portfolio events. In San Francisco on Thursday, Harris highlighted the black mother’s health crisis during events and was indoors talking to expectant mothers and unmasked health care providers. Masks are recommended, but no longer required, in most public indoor spaces in the city.
Harris did not hold public events over the weekend before returning to the nation’s capital.
One employee said Harris tested negative through her “regular” testing by Tuesday. CNN asked when the last time the vice president took a negative test.
Harris completed her regimen with two doses of Moderna Covid-19 in January 2021. She received her first booster dose in late October and her second booster vaccine on April 1.
Covid is making his way through elite Washington
The vice president’s positive test for Covid-19 is coming, as the United States has largely lifted most of its measures to mitigate Covid-19 after the peak of the Omicron variant in the winter.
According to federal public health guidelines, employees and visitors are not required to wear masks or social distance from major White House events. Covid’s cases in Washington have been declining since their peak in early January, when the country faced a wave of Omicron cases, but have been rising recently.
Although the White House has continued to hold crowded indoor events where masks are optional and employees have given up masks in public, the administration said it exceeded federal guidelines for opening Covid-19 in the building. There is mandatory testing for those who come in contact with Biden and social distancing during meetings, at least when possible.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in early April that the White House was not considering returning to pandemic-era restrictions.
“We continue to implement the return policy and we believe we have the necessary measures to do so,” she said at the time.
Officials acknowledged that it was “possible” that Biden would eventually become infected with the virus, as Covid-19 has also been circulating among White House staff and Washington’s elite recently.
In late March, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki canceled plans to travel with the president to Belgium and Poland after testing positive for Covid-19 for the second time. Her deputy on the trip to Europe, White House chief deputy spokeswoman Carin Jean-Pierre, tested positive shortly after returning from the trip. Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, tested positive for Covid-19 earlier in March. After dinner at the Gridiron Club, an annual event with press and prominent Washington officials held in early April, dozens of attendees tested positive, including two cabinet members and Harris’s communications director, Jamal Simmons. He was considered a close contact with the vice president. Harris was criticized after this close contact for her apparent disregard for instructions to disguise U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for those exposed to Covid-19 because she did not wear a mask during the Supreme Court’s vote. confirmation by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
This story has been updated with additional reports.
CNN’s MJ Lee and Sarah Fortinski contributed to this report.
Add Comment